State of the Market

[malvolio]

All I am saying is people walking immediately into another contract, or even permanent job, in any type of numbers at the moment goes against everything I see in people I have worked with or anecdotal evidence through LinkedIn and other sources.

If it is the case can we please acknowledge it is the exception at the moment and not decide it is a personality failing of the majority of people who haven't been able to do it?

It's likely more a case of a group of people moving between teams they have already worked for in a close community of clients. Saves all that recruitment and validation guff if you have people on hand. And BA roles are rarely business critical so all they are doing is joining new projects as the last one ends. Finance tends to have lots of projects on the go after all, they live in an ever-changing world.

Terrific if you have that kind of backup. 90% of us don't.

[oliverson]

I want to hear everyone's stories both good and bad but of all the people I have worked with, and they can't all be bad, have at best gone months between contracts so excuse me if I am a bit cynical about people saying they and their friends have had absolutely no problems finding a contract immediately after leaving a previous one. It might very well be the case but that is not what I am seeing anecdotally from across the English speaking world in Technology and other white collar roles.

Unfortunately some of the 'positive advice' becomes 'I am a better contractor than you' or 'you were never really a proper contractor'. The problem, and I don't think anyone is disputing this, is there is less work around. At best you can position yourself at the front of the queue for it but it isn't a zero sum game and it can't support the amount of people it used to.

The fact remains not everyone can up sticks and move to another country. If that is what it takes to stay in the industry then quite a few people will need to bow out. It might mean the the end of them as contractors but it doesn't make them any the less of a human being.

Some people need to remember this.

Totally agree.

I've worked all over this country and in Finland, Portugal, Spain, etc. but the UK takes precedent every single time because no matter how bad it is at the moment, this is my country. I'm an Englishman and proud of it, hell I'm a YORKSHIREMAN. I think the person that willingly moves from country to country isn't truly happen in his/her skin, leading a nomadic life, never having a sense of belonging.

[oliverson]

It's likely more a case of a group of people moving between teams they have already worked for in a close community of clients. Saves all that recruitment and validation guff if you have people on hand. And BA roles are rarely business critical so all they are doing is joining new projects as the last one ends. Finance tends to have lots of projects on the go after all, they live in an ever-changing world.

Terrific if you have that kind of backup. 90% of us don't.

But didn't the poster claim all their contracts were outside IR35, which is the polar opposite of reality in that sector?

[TheDude]

Three calls yesterday. All Indian recruiters looking For Scala/Spark developers in London. £400 per day inside IR35 with three days per week in the London office.

I might actually say I am interested next time just to see what the recruiter does because I have no doubt they are not looking to fill the role with a UK national.

[Cookielove]

Yep 100% this TheDude ....they are not looking to recruit UK nationals

[SussexSeagull]

Let's hope the government are serious about reducing IT and Tech Visas then.

[TheDude]

Three calls yesterday. All Indian recruiters looking For Scala/Spark developers in London. £400 per day inside IR35 with three days per week in the London office.

I might actually say I am interested next time just to see what the recruiter does because I have no doubt they are not looking to fill the role with a UK national.

I have had another two calls since posting this.

[Cookielove]

Too late re reducing IT and Tech visas...that should have been done years ago...unless they can retrospectively cancel those issued...it has had a catastrophic effect on IT/Tech

[davetza]

I appreciate that there is a wider downturn but there are still roles out there. I am about to move from one contract to another on a decent outside IR35 rate. Another programme awhere I was at got canned and the programme manager who was let go when that happened walked straight into another role. The programme manager I am going to work with at the new place went straight into that role from somewhere else and another colleague of mine has just got a new contract after a month of looking. All in the insurance PM space.

[malvolio]

But didn't the poster claim all their contracts were outside IR35, which is the polar opposite of reality in that sector?

Who knows. But IME the people rolling around that kind of work have been doing for years and get paid off the project budget, so IR35 probably isn't on their radar.